


At The End Of The Afterlife (A Whole New Road Awaits)

by AWeeBitRustyEh



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, INFINITY WAY SPOILERS!!!, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), other tags later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-04 07:05:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14587641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AWeeBitRustyEh/pseuds/AWeeBitRustyEh
Summary: INFINITY WAR SPOILERS..... BEWAREAfter Thanos gets the gauntlet, he succeeds in his goal. Our heroes are dead, but not forgotten. Nor gone.Those that are dead will not remain dead, for even in death there is life. Those that have died are pulled into the Afterlife, a world where nothing is as it seems, and they have to fight to survive. In the Afterlife, the only thing to expect is the unexpected. The newly arrived must make their way in this new world, where they are wanted by its ruler.Meanwhile, those in the world of the living struggle to regroup and hunt down the Mad Titan. While the remaining heroes work to restore their friends, there's one question that hangs over them all:What will they do to survive?(This summary will be updated when more plot details become relevant!)





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> hello all you lovelies. this is my first fic, first writing i've ever actually showed somebody tbh. this is just an idea i had for what could happen following infinity war. which, if you didn't read the tags.... SPOILERS (*river song voice*) anyways, feedback is super appreciated, just please don't bash. not saying don't point things out, but y'know, be nice plz.
> 
> WITH THAT...  
> let's begin! \\(-u-)/

"Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good."  
"You're alright."  
"I don't know what's happening, I don't know."  
"I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go, Mr. Stark."  
"Please."  
"Please."  
"I don't wanna go. I don't wanna go."  
"I'm sorry."  
\-------  
He isn't awake at first. There’s nothing to awake to. A darkness so deep he can feel it in his bones, an emptiness permeating his body. Where is he? What happened?  
It's maybe a second, maybe hours before he finds the courage to open his eyes. Better the devil known.  
What he sees is different from what he feels. If reality feels empty, then this place feels alive. A bustling market roars around him, people darting from one colorful awning to the next. Peter's head pounds as he slowly levers himself upright, scanning his surroundings for anything familiar. Anybody.  
There's something nagging at the back of his mind, something he's not remembering. But he can't deal with that right now. Right now he needs to figures out where in the hell he is.  
"We're not in Kansas anymore," he mumbled to himself. His left-hand runs through his hair in the annoying habit he'd picked up recently. A bit of blood comes out of his hair as well as some dark ash-like material. He wipes the grime on his clothes.  
Peter decided to check where he is (maybe the wizard teleported him, he thinks. What a weird thought). He has a flash of something red blurring towards him, a cape of some sort? A quote springs to mind, but he ignores it for the moment. Tried to chase down the memory haunting his brain.  
"Oh, so we're using our fake names. Then I'm Spider-Man."  
He gasps. The headache in his head reaches its breaking point and his hard work in sitting upright is erased. Peter pants on the ground, fingers grasping in the dusty ground as the memories stream back into his brain.  
"Shit," he says.  
\-------  
"We need to leave," the blue-lady says. Tony ignores her. He breathes in the dirty air, the ashes around him on the devastated planet that had claimed more lives.  
"Thanos has the stones but we can stop him. Undo this damage." Her blue features are a sharp contrast to the hues of orange and red surrounding them  
"Right," Tony says. He understands, he really does. But he doesn't move.  
The blue woman drags her sharp eyes over him in a way he can feel even without looking up from the ash-covered ground. Tony waits for her to leave, for him to be stranded on this planet with no help or escape. That doesn't sound as bad as it used to.  
"My sister, Gamora." Tony remembers the name. "She fought so hard against Thanos. Convinced me to rebel against our father. She sacrificed everything to stop him. That kid..."  
"Peter"  
"Peter...what would he want you to do?" She sits next to him now, close enough to be in his vision yet far enough to give him space. It's a mirror image of what Natasha used to do.  
The rush of anger is sudden but not unexpected. "He'd want me to kill that rat bastard and stick his head on a pike."  
His companion laughs, a mechanical sound but with a tinge of manic that reeks of humanity. "Sounds like a good kid."  
Tony smiles sadly. "He really was."  
\-------  
The panic attack fades in due time, but the world around him still sadly remains. He pulls himself up from the ground a second time, taking the time to really observe his surroundings. His early observation still stands, a marketplace of some sort, and he is sheltered from the stifling crowd by the deserted booth he has woken up in.  
The people walking around him look normal, but occasionally he'll catch glimpses of things that give him pause, such as a rapier or a snake around one man's neck. Occasionally, he'll catch a glimpse of faces that he swears are familiar but disappear too quick for recognition. The smell of sweet food wafts to his nose, drawing his attention to a booth several over from his. Even if he had his wallet, his money probably wouldn't work here since this was definitely not America. If his stomach had the choice, he'd probably have already eaten the entire booth. And maybe the small horse next to it. Seriously, a horse, he hasn't seen one since his trip to the zoo in sixth grade.  
There was a loud disturbance to the left of his booth. He heard a familiar voice shouting above the ruckus of the crowd, yelling for somebody to let him go. Nobody looked at the boy being dragged by the men in black robes, although a few gave him pitying glances before quickly averting their eyes.  
Peter sprang into action, running towards the group of men as one of them pulled a length of string from his belt. The string went taut before wrapping itself around the boy's wrists. Harley was grabbed from behind, pulled against the chest of one of the broad-shouldered men. Peter continued to dodge through the crowd. Only a few booths left.  
Suddenly a heavy weight hit him in the back, knocking him to the ground yet again. A black sleeve appeared in his peripheral as he felt a tight pressure on his wrists. Peter struggled to pull away as the black-robed men pulled him to his feet. The robes ended in a dark hood, but underneath was a black face wrapping leaving all bit the eyes covered. Ninjas, Peter's inappropriate brain supplied.  
The group of ninjas holding him began to move towards the ones holding Harley. Peter saw the moment that Harley recognized him.  
"Peter?" Harley asked with wide-eyes.  
Peter sighed. "Hey, Harley."  
\-------  
Despite the media's belief, Mr. Stark was actually great with kids. Maybe not in the traditional sense, but that didn't matter to Harley (or later Peter).  
He never really went to the tower. Rose Hill was way too far for some casual visit. But if there was an increase in fly-bys in the area, well nobody was the wiser. Occasionally he'd find a new tool in his workshop, no name attached. Just there. He never mentioned it during his calls with Mr. Stark, or Tony as he liked to be called. It threw Harley off sometimes, but he tried his best.  
Tony called every couple weeks, asking about life and school, and talking about the newest projects in his workshop. He invited Harley to visit the Tower a couple of times, but life had gotten in the way. First, his mother had struggled to make the bills. Then his sister had gotten sick. And then there had been the attack in Sokovia. He'd really wanted to see Tony after that, and so did his mother since she had accepted his influence in his life (they'd had a long talk after the events of the Mandarin. He didn't hear the entire talk, but he knew they'd come to an understanding.) She suggested he ask to visit, but Tony said it wasn't a good time. Then the Superhero Civil War happened, and virtually everybody except Tony was a war criminal. The Keener Family extended a formal invitation for Tony to stay with them for awhile, to deal with everything that had happened, even though Harley hardly knew anything. Classified details, but Tony also just didn't like to talk about it. Harley tried not to let that upset him.  
But that meant that Harley first heard about Peter during one of their calls. After the mess with Ultron, which Harley figured he wasn't supposed to know about, Tony began spending more and more time in his workshop. Harley didn't recognize the name, but he thought he heard the word "intern" while he was playing with his latest project. He brushed it off, not remembering it until later when Tony mentioned Peter getting hurt during the Civil War. They didn't mention a Tower attack on the news? That's when he starts to connect the dots.  
The first thing he realizes is that Peter isn't just an intern. His first guess is maybe that he's one of the newer heroes. He remembers hearing about a fast kid in Sokovia. Not on the news, just on some of the internet superhero forums Tony hates. But didn't he die?  
The next dot connects when he's video-calling Tony. In the background is a device that looks suspiciously like the web-shooters on New York's newest vigilante (Harley isn't an idiot, unlike the news anchors who think it's biological material. Gross.) His internet chat rooms love their theories about where the webbing comes from, with no solid consensus, but Harley has always believed its inorganic. Those devices on the counter beside Tony look exactly like an apparatus required to launch the webs. So Tony knows Spider-Man. Not a surprise, considering the buzz of theories surrounding Spider-Man's involvement in the fight in Leipzig.  
The final dot is when Harley finally visits the Tower. It's about a year and a half after the Civil War, and Harley is being a classic teenager and snooping around (who wouldn't it's Tony freaking Stark) when he walks into a room and sees it. F.R.I.D.A.Y. is offline at the time for an unscheduled maintenance repair for a couple minutes. But it means nobody stops him when he sees the phone buzzing on the table. It's a text from a contact called Happy, Tony's driver if he's not mistaken. There are several unread messages on the homescreen, talking about a voicemail from a person called Peter Parker. Happy sends a message titled "Daily Report on Spider-kid" and the cards fall into place.  
Harley smiles and pulls out his phone.  
\-------  
It takes them three days. Three days to prepare the pod, to chart a course to Earth, and to travel across the galaxy.  
Nebula- as he learns is her name- asks him for coordinates for where to land. They're close enough to the planet for him to pick up stray broadcasts. News outlets show panic on the streets, people grieving and searching for loved ones that Tony already knows are gone. He sees the wreckage of New York. There is nothing left there for him now.  
He thinks. Where would they be? The Rogue Avengers. If Thanos was searching for the Soul Stone, then he'd need Vision. But Vision disappeared from their radar several weeks ago. Tony suspected he was meeting up with a certain Sokovian, but he let him have his time. The Soul Stone was what brought Vision to life, and without Tony there were few other options as to where they would go. Only one matched with his suspicions of the Rogue Avengers.  
"Give me a minute. I need to use the radio."  
He walks to the back of the small pod. Nebula turns around, playing with the controls on the navigational system. Tony breathes in a deep breath, typing the precise numbers into the transmission device. He lists off a string of coordinates for Nebula, and the blue woman plugs them into their system.  
"Ten minutes 'til landing," Nebula tells him. He nods, picking up the microphone and speaking.  
"This is Tony Stark, designation Iron Man. We are approaching the northern border of Wakanda and request entry in ten minutes. I repeat, this is Tony Stark requesting entry on the northern border in ten minutes. Over."  
He replaces the microphone on the device, and he waits. For several minutes there is only silence, before an accented voice replies.  
"This is Wakandan Air Control. We request verification of your identity. Over." There's a brief crackle of static before the silence returns. Tony grabs at the mic again.  
"What sort of verification would you like? Over."  
Their response is immediate. "What color was the desk in your RA's room at MIT?"  
Tony pauses, a small smile rising on his face. Only one person knows the significance of that desk.  
"Purple paint on cedar with flecks of pink everywhere. His little cousin decorated it. Hello Rhodey."  
A brief crackle before the woman's voice is replaced with a familiar one. "Good to hear you too, Tones."  
He laughs, startling both himself and Nebula who is pretending not to listen. He's grateful for that at least. A high beep comes from the navigational system, and he remembers what he has to do.  
"We're approaching the northern border in about two minutes. I assume we can land?"  
"Yeah, the Dora Milaje will meet you. Who's we?"  
Tony looks at Nebula, who raises a not-eyebrow at him. Thanks for the help.  
"Just me and a friend."  
Rhodey's voice sounds suspicious. "Is it the wizard?"  
Tony takes a deep breath again, trying to remember to keep his cool. "No...he's gone. How-how many?"  
There is silence. The countdown reads thirty seconds to the border. "We'll talk when you get down here." Static again for several seconds, and the line is dropped.  
Nebula doesn't comment when he sits back in his chair and resolutely observes his surroundings. They pass through the border wall and enter Wakanda, neither of them saying a word. Tony prepares himself for the day he's been dreading for years.  
The pod lands on a concrete pad at the front of the palace. Outside are fierce-looking women with sharp spears of vibranium. The door to their pod opens, and he hears the women ready into position. Beside him, Nebula replaces her blade into its usual spot. She nods at him, and he nods back, bringing up the mask he's used for years.  
"It's showtime," he says as they catch their first glimpse at the group gathered on the landing pad.  
"Hello, Rogers."  
\-------


	2. A Brave New World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as you may have noticed if you came over here from one of the other versions... I done messed up! There was about 8 different versions of this because of my screwy wi-fi, so my apologies. This is the OFFICIAL COPY now, although I'll be leaving the others up for a bit longer until I can get the heart to delete the last few. but anyways...
> 
> sorry for the wait! I wasn't planning on my horrible chem teacher to give me about 30 hrs of hw due in about 48 hrs on mother's day weekend, and I had three grandmas and a mom to take care of by myself. then i'm in final exams... but ya'll don't wanna hear about that. this chapter is somehow shorter than the last one which idk how but it happened. the good news is that i've already started the third chapter, and i have most of the first part of this story planned so it should be fine. just finding the time and will to write is a struggle (also trials of apollo book three, i have no regrets)
> 
>  
> 
> anyways, long rant over. enjoy!!! :D

The ninjas load him and Harley into a hovering craft, about the size of a car, floating in the middle of the market. Peter doesn't miss the passerbys avoiding it like the plague.  
"Peter, what the hell are you doing here?" Harley whispers. The person holding him jerks his wrists and he grimaces. Peter realizes that the arm is swollen, at the very least a major sprain.  
"I could say the same to you," Peter says. He hadn't talked to Harley since the appearance of the ship in the sky, but he could guess why he was there. Where 'there' was, well that was the question of the hour.  
One of the figures behind them wrenched Peter's shoulder, grunting for them to be quiet. Both Harley and Peter were pushed roughly into their seats, while the ninjas fretted around outside the craft. Before the doors could close though, a sharp sound rang out beside their heads.  
Peter's Spidey-Sense twangs dully in the background, sharpening as he tackles Harley into the thin cover provided by the lip of the craft. Through the thick windows he catches glimpses of a shadowy figure in green fighting several of the black-robes. By the limp bodies littering the floor, they were evidently winning.  
He turns to Harley, crouching on the ground beside Peter. "We need to get out of here," Peter says, checking for any of the black-robes looking their direction. Too preoccupied to notice their escaping captives, Peter whispers for Harley to follow him as the bolt from the craft into the gathering crowd.   
Behind them, they can hear the sounds of the last of the ninjas hitting the ground, though neither of them turns around to watch. They disappear into the crowd, weaving through the throng of onlookers as they move in no specific direction, just away from the crowd.  
After a couple minutes and a few close corners, Peter checks to look behind them. There's nobody there, so they stop to catch their breath. Peter's Spidey-Sense still pings distantly in the back of his mind, but he's too focused on searching for any sign of pursuit. Harley's sharp breaths as he leans against a nearby wall fill Peter's sensitive ears.  
There's a crunch behind them, the only warning. "Nice escape," the voice says, the proximity enough to sound like its right next to Peter's ears. Both he and Harley startle, backing away from the green figure as they become acutely aware of the fact that their hands were bound behind their back. Should've cut the ropes earlier.  
Peter could try to break the ropes with his strength, but with the limited flexibility, it would take precious moments that Peter didn't have.  
"What do you want?" Harley asks, squaring his shoulders while rocking on his feet despite his limited movements from the bonds.  
Up close, they can see the smaller details of the green-figure's outfit. It's a pale green bodysuit that reminds Peter of Black Widow. This figure has two katanas strapped to her back, although a scrappy looking pistol hangs at her side. It's obviously a female for.... reasons Peter would rather not explain. The voice, definitely the voice. Her face is covered by a cloth bandana covering her lower half, the top half of he face covered in black striped above her eyes and green dots freckling around them.  
"You're two tough cats to find. Lucky I got to you before the Dogs could get you on the road." She glances behind her, eyes darting furtively through the crowd. Peter's enhanced senses can hear rough voices heading in their direction.   
The woman grabs both of their shoulders, dragging them further into the narrow alley they'd stepped in. Heavy footfalls pass by their hiding place, neither of them moving as more of the black-robed figures passed their hiding spot. Once the footfalls recede, the boys pull themselves away from the woman.  
Harley stumbles back a few steps, the bonds between his hands disconnected by a neat sever Peter suspects had something to do with the woman. Then he asks the question as eloquently as anybody could expect in this situation. "Who the hell are you?"  
\-------  
"Wilson. Wake up." There's a rough hand against his face. His eyes are still shut, but there's a drop of moisture on his face, then another. And another, and another, until he can't resist the urge to wipe the drops from his face.  
"Knew that'd get you," Barnes says, and Sam decides to open his eyes.  
A thick layer of grit coats his eyes, but even then the smug smirk of James Buchanan Barnes is impossible to miss.  
"Steve was right, you are a piece of shit," Sam groans while he levers himself into a sitting position. Barnes offers his metal hand from where he's sitting beside Sam on the ground. One arm is against his right knee, propped up from the ground, exactly the kind of cool pose you'd expect from the famed best-friend of Steve Rogers in 1940s Brooklyn. But things have changed, as Sam has tried to gently remind Steve.  
"Of course you'd believe his lying ass. Dumbass couldn't keep his head out of trouble, but I'm the piece of shit. I distinctly remember reading that in the Smithsonian." Barnes snorts derisively, shaking his head. Sam can't help but laugh at the absurdity of it.  
"Not disagreeing with you there. The amount of times I've had to pull his sorry ass out of the fire..." Sam shakes his head. Then he finally looks around him and realizes he doesn't know where he is.  
Barnes notices his eyes. "Took you long enough. What all do you remember?"  
Sam thinks back, tries to remember how he woke up on the ground in what looks like an old domed hut. Nothing comes to mind, except...  
"What happened to Thanos? And Steve?" He looks around him again, as if a blonde supersoldier might have materialized beside him. Lord knows those two were attached at the hip.  
Barnes shakes his head. "Don't know. According to the villagers, we just woke up out in the field. They dragged us in here, and I woke about an hour ago."  
"Just the two of us?" Sam asks.   
"Just the two of us," Barnes confirms. They're silent for a minute, the silence permeating the small space and allowing some of the sounds from the outside to filter in. Sam hears the sound of metal striking rock, of grass rustling, and quick footsteps passing by their hut.  
"He did it, didn't he? Thanos...he got the stones." Barnes smiles a sad smile. He doesn't need to nod because Sam has already figured it out.  
Sam draws on his time in the military, knows he has to keep moving. Obviously, they're not dead, stuck in some village according to Barnes.  
Outside their hut, the rapid footsteps get closer, until even Sam's dull normal senses can tell that they've got company outside. He looks at Barnes, but the man doesn't look concerned. If anything, Sam would say he looks amused.  
"The kids have found us," Barnes says with a soft smile. It's a good look on him. "They used to do this all the time in Wakanda. Come on, let's go say hi to our guests."  
The men stand up from the ground, dusting themselves off as they push aside the dark skin blocking the doorway, and Sam finally gets a glimpse of the world they've landed in.  
\-------  
"Ughhhh. Whatever I ate, never let me eat it again."  
"It is not something you ate, brother Quill. My stomach does not feel the violent urge to expel its waste."  
"Where are we?" Mantis asks in her soft voice. "This is unlike any world I have seen."  
Peter Quill sits up from the floor, looking at the pale yellow sky above them. It reminds him of Terra, of the Midwestern states when the winds kicked up a large dust storm. He can see a bright spot of illumination through the haze, but not much else is in sight. They're surrounded by desert in every direction.  
"There are people coming towards us from the city," Drax says, pointing to the nearby buildings of a medium-sized city. "I will attack them to defend my helpless companions."  
"Woah, woah, woah. I'm not helpless!" Quill exclaims at the same time as Mantis yells "They are coming to attack?"  
Drax pulls his blades from his pockets and Quill quickly moves to intercept him.  
"Woah, hold on a second. They could be friendlies," Quill says as he moves to bodily intercept Drax lest he run for the martyr charge.  
"Or they could be soldiers of Thanos coming to attack us," Mantis says in her usual helpful way. Peter was on the verge of screaming, but the group of people had gotten close enough to shout to Quill and the others.  
An old man wearing green robes stepped out from the front of the group, which was about ten to fifteen people."Greetings, travelers. Welcome to Canary. We must hurry. The storm will be here any moment." He pointed to the looming mass on the horizon, a dark shape of clouds rapidly growing closer and the ever-present sound of thunder only growing louder.   
"Who are you guys?" Quill shouts back. Mantis and Drax had already started heading towards the group to close the gap, but Quill takes the time to observe just how fast the surroundings are changing around them. There's a strong gust of wind that nearly blows him off his feet, so he follows the others toward the group from the city.  
The storm closes in on them as they join up with the other figures in white robes, and they all move quickly across the arid terrain to reach the stone village ahead. Quill and the other guardians follow the old man into a large building on the outskirts of the town, helping him block the large wooden doors with a thick beam spanning the entrance. The old man breathes heavily, looking around at the other robed figures that fill the cavernous building.  
Outside, the wind has picked up and the sounds of sand hitting the building are unmistakable, although the sounds come from the walls rather than the roof. The old man takes a seat at a nearby table made from slender wood, looking at the gathered guardians while the rest of the figures disappear off into different branches of the building.  
"I am sorry for our rush. It is not wise to be trapped out in the storms."  
Quill snorts. "I can imagine. You said this is Canary? What planet are we on? Galactic coordinates? Hub to contact the Nova Empire?"  
The old man looks confused, but he shakes his head with a kindly smile. "I am afraid I cannot answer all your questions, although I can tell you that we are not in the plane of the living. Many call this place the Afterlife, but you have arrived in Canary. Most people come out here to avoid the chaos of the larger cities like Midnight." The old man stands up again, looking much steadier on his feet than he had earlier. "My name is Chief Kaluit and I am the leader of Canary. We will provide you housing as we do with all the new arrivals although most do not arrive in a dramatic fashion such as yourselves. Follow me, I will place you in the bunks below the Library."  
Quill looks at Mantis and Drax, trying to gauge what they think of this guy. He thinks the man is okay, although he specifically wants to know what Mantis can feel. Both guardians follow the man into the depths of the building and into the stacks of books Quill can now tell at part of the Library.  
There's really no option when Quill sighs, rubbing the troll doll in his pocket that normally wasn't there, as he follows his friends into this brave new world.  
\-------  
"The Dogs call me Serpentine, which is all you need to know for now. Come one, we're going to miss our ride," the woman scans the crowd before pulling a small device from her pocket and triggering it with a small beep.  
"The Dogs are those guards, right?" Harley asks. The woman nods. "So the. What's your actual name?"  
"Not important." Her eyes are barely visible, but they wait patiently on the boys' faces. Peter realizes that she's waiting for something. The next question, the one that they should've already asked but hadn't.  
"Who do you work for?" Peter asks. He can hear a set of footsteps approaching and he tenses, but the woman-Serpentine- remains calm.  
"And they finally figure it out," a new voice says from the opposite end of the alley.  
Peter narrowly avoids clinging to the wall, but Harley does his best imitation of Spider-Man and jumps at least six inches into the air.  
Peter's eyes meet Harley's, by pure chance, and he sees the same look of distrust mirrored in his friend. Harley's head tilts in that slight angle Peter knows is unintentional, but Peter inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment.  
Harley whispers under his breath, quiet enough that only Peter could possible hear it."You've seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, right?"  
Peter's picking up what he's putting down. Sure there's not gonna be the epic boulder like he pictured as a kid, but he can do this. The only question is can Harley keep up?  
Harley must see the challenge in his eyes, that familiar look that he knows like the back of his hand. "Oh you're on," he mouthes without breath. Nothing to give them away.  
Serpentine reaches towards her belt and the boys take their cue. Both of them burst past the green woman and dash towards the throng of people moving in the main section of the market. Harley takes a hard right away from their earlier escape and Peter follows shortly on his heels. He makes sure to wink as he passes Harley.  
Peter can hear loud footsteps and familiar voices close behind, but Harley and he keep running towards the edge of the market. At least he thinks it's the edge because it's lined with thick jungle trees that peek through deserted booths. The crowd has thinned, leaving the boys fully visible to their pursuers. Peter break through the brush first, hoping to get a good grip on a tree to lift himself and Harley above their pursuers' grasps.  
But his plan is foiled when the foliage ends only several meters in, dropping into a thick crevasse spanning at least a quarter-mile. Harley stops beside him, breathing heavily as their pursuers arrive behind them. Peter curses under his breath.  
Serpentine appears first, followed by a second figure with undercut red hair.  
"Good one, boys. That worked out just swimmingly." The newcomer says.  
Peter looks into the drop behind him. He could do it. His web-shooters are still missing, but his grip still works perfectly. There's a ledge about halfway down that could stop his descent. Maybe a little harder with Harley, but he could do it.  
Harley sees him eyeing the fall and quirks an eyebrow. Like he knows exactly what Peter is thinking.  
"Sarcophagus," Peter says as he steps backwards off the cliff, and into the nothingness below.  
\-------  
He hears a shout above him, then a sound like a mechanical whir. There's another shape, another blur, falling beside him. Peter.  
And then there isn't.  
The ground is coming.  
Closer.  
Closer.  
The sound gets louder.  
Closer.  
Closer.  
He hits the ground.  
\-------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'd like to think that's a dramatic cliffhanger, but it's more of a cliff-jumper (please don't hit me). jk. let me know opinions, comments, questions, recs, critiques, etc in the comments. i'm also thinking about making a tumblr? would anybody be interested?
> 
> i am like a succulent in the desert, i need every piece of love i can get and i have no shame. none.


	3. Life's A Laugh, And Death's A Joke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again! sorry this took so long. and sorry it's so short. we had family over for memorial day and last weekend too. THEN I got an internship and a one day job that I had to train for. AND I'm in the middle of finals hell (my chem teacher gave us 122 questions the weekend before our final that each had ten parts and were worth 0.1pt for the entire question, and I abs need the pts. I'm about a step away from murder. and I have an 89.9 in the class with only the final, and she says she only wants two As in the class and there's already two -__- fml)  
> anyways, life rant aside. I hope you enjoy the chapter! I'm posting this rn as I'm still kinda on a roll, because I'm trying to keep the chapters consistent but then Buck and Sam came along and... yeah. So hopefully I'll be posting another chapter by tomorrow or Tuesday, bec Peter and Harley have only just started.
> 
> Enjoy!

The women- the Dora Milaje, he's told- lead him and Nebula inside the palace. There are signs of battle everywhere, inescapable despite the obvious effort to clean up. Nebula simply glances at their armed escort, but Tony takes a closer look at the impossible amounts of vibranium surrounding him. The armor he could make...  
His Bleeding Edge armor is damaged, only partially reconstructable from Thanos's beating. Tony refuses to think about that. It's only been three days, he's allowed to have his time.  
They reach a room with large doors, pushed open by two of the Dora Milaje. Rogers steadfastly avoids looking at him, but he knows he is being watched.  
Sitting at a large oval table is an assortment of people he hasn't seen in years.  
Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow. Natashalie. Iron Man yes, Tony Stark not recommended.  
Thor Odinson, the prodigal son. Tony couldn't see his brother, but he kept an eye out just in case. He digs the haircut, if he's completely honest. The long warrior hair was cool too, but damn if college Tony wouldn't take a hit at that. Not that he wouldn't before. Priorities.  
Tony skips right over the person (creature?) in between Thor and the next familiar face, Dr. Bruce Banner. They hadn't had a lot of time to catch up before the wizards and the flying donut. Bruce must've called the Rogue Avengers using the phone. Good for him.  
And then there's Lt. Colonel James Rhodes. Tony has an arm full of Rhodey and a nose full of cologne. Thank God Rhodey hadn't been one of...one of the fifty percent.  
"Welcome back, Tones," Rhodey whispers with a tight tone. Tony can't bring himself to make fun of his friend for it. There's a reason he hasn't spoken yet, and the moisture in his eyes has everything to do with it.  
The Dora Milaje gather at the front of the room, four of them flanking the young girl sitting at the head of the table.  
"Welcome back to Earth, Mr. Stark," the girl says. "My name is Shuri, leader of Wakanda in my brother's absence."  
Rhodey lets go of Tony, walking around the table to take his previous seat between Bruce and Thor. The girl gestures to the two open seats on the side opposite from the others. Rogers sits in the one on the opposite side of Thor, so Tony pulls out the chair and reclines.   
Hopefully only Nebula notices his wince from the pull of the biofoam, but that would be too much to hope for. She gives him a steely glare as she pulls out her own seat, remembering their conversations about straining the biofoam. She tried to play it off like she didn't care, but Tony knew the type.  
The final chair's occupant speaks, drawing Tony's attention as his brain processes what he's seeing. What the hell, he's seen weirder.  
"Nebula. It's been awhile," the raccoon says.  
Nebula responds in her raspy voice."Not long enough, rodent. Where's the tree?" Tony doesn't remember a tree? This must be one of those Guardians Nebula mentioned during their trip. He remembers her making a comment about the size of one of them, Rocket if he's not mistaken. But the only other one would be Groot?  
"Groot didn't make it. Did you see Quill and the others?" Rocket asks. Tony doesn't have much experience reading animal emotions, but he thinks he sees a bit of worry hidden beneath the raccoon's rough exterior.  
Nebula shakes her head. "They were disintegrated after the fight on Titan. Thanos killed Gamora to reach the Soul Stone."  
There's a moment of silence in the room. Tony understands the grief the raccoon must feel, to be the only remaining member of his team, the last of his friends. He doesn't envy that for a second.  
"Well I don't know about you guys, but I think I'm gonna need to the whole story here," Rhodey says, bless him.  
The girl, Shuri, nods. "Very well Mr. Stark and..." She looks questioningly towards Nebula.  
"Nebula."  
Shuri nods again. "Right then. Tell us your story."  
And so Tony begins.  
\-------  
They're in a jungle. Sam thinks it reminds him of the jungles in Vietnam. Bucky agrees, though he tries not to remember why he knows that about Vietnam.  
The sky is a hazy yellow, visible in the clearing where the village is located but nearly impossible to see just several meters away where the tree cover thickens. Beneath them, the soil is bright red with rich iron coloring. The hut they were just in is made of dark wood, a dome-shaped structure that reminds Sam of a Native American wigwam. Around them are other similar structure each decorated with hanging strips of colors and other unique decorations. Their structure is closest to the edge, where the small village meets with the jungle of trees spanning into thick darkness.  
Bucky catches a glimpse of a darting shape behind a hut across the way. He puts on the old smile he remembers from the newsreels and slowly walks towards the child.  
"Hey there, sweetheart. Could you take us to the chief, please? My friend woke up and I can't remember the way back to him."  
The little girl steps out, glancing around nervously for her friends Bucky can hear hiding behind the other huts. She nods, and Bucky reaches out a hand for her to hold like he used to for his sisters. The little girl grasps his hand tightly and pulls him towards the center of the village with her tiny fingers. Sam follows a few steps behind.  
They follow the girl as sage weaves through structures similar but different from the others. Whereas the others were obviously for housing, these structures near the center of the village have more practical purposes like forges, crop stores, or cattle plots. The little girl stops in front of a heavily decorated wooden building, with a cloth roof over the front entrance like a sort of patio awning. Sam notices the bright colors and golden etchings lining the roof of the building, in a language he cannot identify.  
Inside, there are several men standing over a table and pointing to a large map with dense jungles and a large river. There are little wooden figurines shaped like people in prone or kneeling positions in certain spots along the river banks. Sam guesses they must be villages.  
One of the men turns around, colorful blue vest over loose brown pants. The vest is covered in gold swirls and other patterns Sam cannot track. He gets lost in the colors before he fully takes in the man in front of him, but he can see how the dark caramel skin mixes with his deep black hair.  
"Welcome back to the land of the awake, Mr. Wilson," the man says. Sam wouldn't say he's older than thirty. He nods at Bucky. "Again, Mr. Barnes."  
"My name is Arjun. My sister is the Village Chief. Aruna, the guests have awakened!" The man calls out to the men gathered around the table, all of whom step away from the table to give Sam a glimpse of the woman he hadn't noticed before.  
Like her brother, Aruna has deep black hair and the same nose as her brother. She bears an air of authority that has Sam resisting the urge to salute her. Her bright red saree contrasted nicely with the golden jewelry adorning her face, and Sam again notices the intricate designs on the fabric.  
"Hello. As my brother has told you, I am Chief Aruna of Azura. It is an unfortunate tongue twister, but I cannot help my name." Sam smiles, not sure if he is allowed to laugh. Is a chief like royalty? Should he bow, or do what the Dora Milaje did in Wakanda? The last time he faced royalty, he asked the man if he liked cats for Christ's sake.  
Barnes winks at Sam, and Sam can just picture this Barnes in every single stupid story Steve had ever told him about James Buchanan Barnes. Seventy years of brainwashing but the man's still gonna try and flirt up a storm.  
"Chief Aruna, this is my friend Sam Wilson," Bucky gestures to Sam. Sam can't resist a little wave.  
Aruna reaches out with her right hand for a handshake, but clasps Sam's within her own. "Greetings, Sam Wilson. Welcome to our village."  
Sam clasps her hands as well. "Nice to meet you, Chief Aruna." He decides to go heavy on the formality. "I'm a bit confused as to how we got here though. Bucky said we were found in a field?"  
Arjun comes to stand by his sister's side, saying something in a different language that makes the other men in the room exit through the gaping front entry. "Aruna, would you like me to explain to them?" he asks.  
Aruna nods and speaks to Sam and Bucky. "My brother was part of the party that relocated you to our guest quarters."  
Arjun nods his head, leaning back against the wooden table with the map in the middle.  
"I was out with a welcoming party to meet with the traders from Midnight. They were startled by two men appearing from thin air, according to them. We were alerted by the disturbance and rushed out to intercept you, but you were unconscious on the ground in our fields. The traders said they might have seen a small flash of orange light, and they swore to have seen another in the jungle a few hundred meters from where they found you. By the time they located the second flash, there was no indication of any others arriving." Arjun hesitates, looking to Aruna and waiting for his sister's nod to continue.  
"You do not know a lot about the world in which you have just arrived. It is alright, nobody ever does," Arjun says. "The first ones here called it the Afterlife. They built the main trading center and de facto capital at Midnight. Not everybody who dies comes here. Some people arrive in other places not near enough to be of our concern. Others... fade from here once they've arrived through the portal. The portal is in the center of Midnight City, inside the Palace of Glass. Only the Grand Paladin has access to the portal for Amy other time than the Welcoming Ceremony, for new arrivals." Sam couldn't help but notice the not so nice connotation behind the so-called 'Welcoming Ceremony'.  
"I don't know about you guys, but I don't exactly think anybody with the name Grand Paladin sounds like a democratic leader," Sam says.  
Aruna laughs, a sound that reminds Sam of tinkling bells in a soft wind. "That he is not, I can tell you that. He and his guard of SPIs have little mercy on those they do not consider worthy."  
Sam can feel her waiting for their next question, but Sam is still trying to process everything that's happened, and just listens as Barnes asks what an SPI is.  
Aruna sighs, a long look in her eyes that is sharply contrasted by the hardening of her brother's expression. "An SPI is what the Grand Paladin and most people in the Afterlife call a Super Power Individual. I believe the term should be better treated as Enhanced Individual, but that would rob people of the chance to call the Paladian the Grand Paladin's SPIes, so alas." She says the last sentence with a smile that Sam can't help but mirror. His mother would kick his ass if she saw him acting like this.  
As it is, Barnes is giving him the Smirk(TM) over his shoulder, and Sam would scowl if Aruna and her brother wouldn't see it. But mostly Aruna.  
"What's wrong with being an SPI?" Barnes asks.  
Arjun huffs from his position by the table. "It is not so much the being an SPI as it is to not be one. When new arrivals are pulled from the portal, they are collected by the Paladian Guard and brought to the Grand Paladin. He decides whether they are an SPI, an Inutile, or a Thrall doomed to work in the Pit. Everybody you see not wearing the uniform of the Paladian Guard or Enforcers is an Inutile."  
Sam can't help but ask the next question, even though he already knows the answer. "What about the SPIs? Are they only the guards or...?" He trails off.  
Arjun shakes his head. "Only an SPI can be an Enforcer, but the Grand Paladin drafts Inutiles into his Paladian Guard. SPI's are not really given the option to become an Inutile rather than an Enforcer, but--"  
"But even if they do refuse, they are coerced or threatened until they have no choice. Those that do not obey the Grand Paladin suffer heavily. And with the unfortunate stigma against SPIs, I daresay I would give in too."  
Barnes frowns, evidently seeing the same potential problem as Sam. "How can he tell if they're an SPI?"  
Arjun stands from the table rejoining the group of them standing in the middle of the room. "The marking. If you were an SPI, and you were to use your ability within this realm, your veins would glow with silver and you would supposedly have a marking on your wrist that would appear and disappear as well. Unfortunately, we are one of the smaller and more remote villages, and SPIs hardly ever make it this far from the Guards."  
Sam turned his head only a second after Barnes at the heavy sound of approaching feet. A young man wearing vertically striped pants and a loose fitting ripped blouse burst in.  
"Chief! My father told me to warn you. Guards approaching from the north at high speeds. They will be here any minute, and there are at least ten Enforcers among them."  
Arjun races out past the man and out into the village beyond, barking orders at gathered people. Aruna narrows her eyes, frowning slightly and furrowing her brow to create a small crease between them.  
"They never bring more than two. Do we know why they are coming?"  
The man shakes his head. "No, Chief. I only received a message several minutes ago from a friend in a neighboring village. They are deploying en masse around the realm, apparently searching for something, although I have not heard what."  
Aruna nods. "Thank your father for the warning. I will be out to deal with this in a minute. Tell him not to mention our guests too, if you would. I do not think it would be a good idea to attract attention to our village and your tribe, if you understand my meaning."  
"Of course, Chief. I'm sure he would agree. They will be hidden well?"  
Aruna nods. "Well enough that even an Enforcer would not find them. Now hurry! We do not have long!" The man runs from the building, disappearing from their view.  
Aruna turns to them, walking past them to one of the doors in the wall."Come along, quick. We need to hide you before they arrive." She opened the door to a room decorated in draping tapestries and heavy bookshelves that lined the walls. At the other end of the room was a desk with a wooden chair behind it. Aruna rushed over to the desk and pushed it from its current position. She lifted the rug beneath and lifted open the hidden trapdoor.  
Sam and Barnes stood there, waiting for her to climb in and confused when she did not. Aruna rolled her eyes, before telling them to climb down. She stood above them when they touched down into the underground space.  
"Do not make a sound. We will be better prepared next time, but for now you must remain here. I will explain when I return. Stay safe, dost," Aruna says, smiling down at them before shutting the door and leaving them in the dark. They are silent as they listen to the sounds of her replacing the desk before leaving the room.  
Sam sighs and begins to move around the small space both he and Barnes are now trapped in. From what he had seen it was about the size of a small room, with shelves lining the walls like above except these things looked more like personal belongings and secret possessions than any of the books above.  
There's a flicker of light in one corner, and he sees Barnes holding a small device similar to a flashlight yet not quite right. Sam continues to explore with the limited lighting, looking through the objects on the shelves, when he hears a small gasp behind him.  
"Hey, Wilson?"  
He turns around, first noticing the blood dripping down Barnes's flesh arm. Then he notices the other thing.  
Because right around the cut on Barnes's forearm, is a cluster of glowing golden veins and an inked marking.  
"Fuck."  
\-------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, apologies for not having peter and harley in this one. Sam and Buck weren't supposed to take that long, but then oh hey look world building who doesn't love that (me, me don't). But I should be writing their part in a minute so it'll be runner-up for the next chapter.
> 
> shoutout to my penpal on nanowrimo, tufty, for keeping me motivated despite having no idea what i'm going through and how absolutely tired i was this week, physically and in the other sense. also, the chapter title comes from Always Look On The Bright Side of Life by Monty Python, even though I've never seen the movie, because my rl friend uses it to cheer me up and I thought it was an ironic lyric (even though i was gonna save it for later).
> 
> anywho, you know the drill. let me know any errors, autocorrect sucks and so do i. please, please, please, like comment subscribe (youtuber voice) and give me affection bec i'm like what i assume a cat is like, needy and wanting every scrap of attention. XD
> 
>  
> 
> EDIT: i don't have a beta, but if anybody would be willing just leave a comment or send me a message or something (can you do that??? i've been on this site for three years and i have not freaking clue lol)

**Author's Note:**

> i've only written this bit so far, but i have almost half of it planned out and i only started yesterday, so. lmk if the chapters are too short or what length you think they should be. i purposely made this one short bec its a prologue, but my expected is about 4000-5000 a chapter, which would be published once a week. or i could go shorter and do 3000 in a couple days.
> 
> thanks for the read! <3


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